Tuesday, September 30, 2014

September meeting photos

Nineteen VPC members (including four newcomers---Dipak, Ellen, Nick and Rick) showed up at Perks for our September 18th meeting. The topic of the meeting was "Back to the Drawing Board", which was about fountain pen models that have changed/evolved over the years. Here are some quick photos taken at that meeting (~ click on photos to enlarge ~)
(Tony shows us his Montblanc 149 (or was it his 146?) fountain pen, a model that has had subtle design changes over the years)
(Bruce and some of his fine Italian pens, including some OMAS Arte Italiana pens that were redesigned several years ago)
(Glenn Collins showed us three very old English fountain pens made by Onoto, and their design progression. These pens featured the original plunger-filling mechanism. Very interesting stuff--thanks for bringing them in, Glenn!)
(That's me--Maja--with some pens I brought for our topic. The pens in the top row are some Sheaffer Balances (both vintage & modern) and Cartridge Pens, and in the bottom row are (L-R) two Parker 21s, some Pelikan Pelikanos and then some modern pens and their vintage counterparts with the same model names---two Sheaffer Crests, two Conklin Crescent Fillers, two Conklin Gliders---and lastly, a vintage Wahl-Eversharp Skyline. I brought the 1995 Skyline model too, but forgot to photograph it).
(Peter showed us his newest acquisition, a lovely handcrafted pen coated with urushi lacquer, made by the Japanese manufacturer Nakaya)

I'll post info about our next meeting (on October 16 at Perks) later today. Hope you can make it!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

One more photo.....

This one was taken by a mutual friend of mine and Bill Kempton's---Glenn Garside from Australia. Glenn is an avid collector of fountain pens and has a special fondness for Parkers. Since he was in town, Bill and I invited him to our pen club's summer dinner and we're so glad he came to it :) Thanks for the photo, Glenn!
(Back row (L-R): Bill Kempton, myself (Maja), Richard and Glenn Marcus (yes, we had a lot of Glenns in attendance that night!). Front row (L-R): Aaron, Anne, Stuart and Sienca)